1 Chapter 1

"Do you have to leave?", said the voice sadly. My youngest sister asked me while I was preparing my things for my departure. I had to leave at dawn. I sighed, "I have to. They assigned me to go there. There's nothing I can do about it." She looked down, still clearly sad about me leaving for training. I stopped what I was doing and went to her, bending down to her height, "Hey... Don't worry. I'll still come back. I promise you." I smiled slightly while caressing her cheek. She then looked at me, also smiling. She brought up her pinkie finger and said, "You have to pinkie promise that. If you don't then I won't believe you." I chuckled slightly at her response and brought my pinkie finger up then intertwining it with hers. She then hugged me, it caught me by surprise but I hugged her back.

After I packed, I went out of my room then head to the kitchen where my mother and other siblings are. They were having fun while cooking and preparing the table. I have eleven siblings. Supposedly, we were supposed to be all thirteen children, me being the middle child, but sadly, the oldest died. I also had two parents but my father died as well before my sibling. Even though that happened, we still stood as a happy family.

They soon noticed me leaning by the kitchen door and pulled me to the table. We talked a bit and later started eating. After eating, we all went to the living room to talk some more while watching the news. Sadly, it was late already so we all went to our rooms and slept.

"Take care, my boy. Always be cautious with your surroundings. You never what's going to come to you so always be aware," my mother said to me sternly. I just nodded my head, not wanting to face her wrath if I didn't respond. "Good. Also, don't forget to bring this," she rummaged her worn-out wallet and pulled out a small picture. She held out my palm and placed the picture onto my palms. I took a look at the small picture and tears started to form in the corner of my eyes. The picture was our family picture when we were still complete before my father's and sibling's death. I hid the picture in my coat and smiled at my mother. "Take good care of that. That's the only complete picture of us that I have." I chuckled and smiled and nodded my head at her. I take a look at my siblings who were bawling their eyes out, their eyes red from all the crying. I went to them and hugged them one by one. The last one who hugged me was my youngest sister. Although I'm older than her, we still are close, closer than any of my other siblings. I hugged her one last time and went out of the house while saying my goodbyes.

I went to the bus stop, waiting for the transportation to bring me to my destination. Waiting for a few minutes, the bus arrived. I climbed inside the bus and sat on a comfortable seat. The ride went smoothly and didn't stop occasionally on the road. I was glad I left early or else I would get caught in traffic. The destination is a bit far from my hometown so I might get homesick. I already miss my family even if I just left an hour ago.

We then stopped at another bus stop. Then arrived a guy who was carrying a lot of bags. He sat beside me where I was located at the back of the bus. He brought out a picture and kissed it. I raised my eyebrows confusingly when he suddenly looked at me and caught me staring. "Oh sorry. It's just a picture of my girlfriend," he smiled awkwardly, embarrassed that I caught him kissing a picture. He then glanced at my bags and back at me. He then asked, "Are you joining the military? 'Cause if you are then we might be going to the same destination." I answered his question, "Um. Yeah. I was assigned by the military at (xxx). How about you?" He widened his eyes and smiled, "We are going to the same military camp," he said and emphasized the word "are". He then introduced himself, "Oh. By the way, my name is Joey." He brought his hand up for a handshake. I put my hand to his and shook it, "My name is Glen. Pleased to meet you. He answered back, "Likewise. I have to catch up with my sleep. I slept late just to hang out with my girlfriend." He laughed and I also laughed slightly at his statement. He slept at the other side of the seat, near the window. *Guess we're acquaintances now.*

We then later arrived at the camp. I woke Joey up and we carried our bags, going out of the bus, him following behind me. We both heard some people shouting and counting. We then went in front of the camp just to be greeted by a soldier in uniform. He had this kind of aura that held authority. "Are you the two men assigned at this camp?", he said with a stern voice. We both answered too quiet and soft for his liking, "Yes, sir." He squinted his eyes and shouted, "I can't hear you!", near our faces. We were surprised and jumped a bit and answered loudly, "Yes, sir!" He grunted, nodding his head. He took out a clipboard and asked for our names. We both said our full names and he started looking at his clipboard on his hand. "You're both assigned at the same quarter, quarter 13. Just look at the map and find it yourselves. Don't get lost," he said and pointed behind him where the camp is. Joey and I looked at each other and carried our bags, dragging our feet to the camp.

While walking to our quarter, we saw different soldiers, training. We guessed that it was our seniors since they looked like they were trained well. We focused on getting to our quarter. Joey broke the silence, "Hey. I'm glad that we are in the same quarter. It would be awkward if I am stuck in a quarter with people I don't know." I looked at him and said, "Weren't we strangers on the bus just earlier?" He became quiet and responded, "Well that was different. You seem kind of chill and looked approachable so yeah." I laughed quietly at his statement, not wanting to get other people's attention. "I guess so. If I didn't catch you kissing a picture of your girlfriend then we won't be here talking with each other," I reminded him of the embarrassing event that took place on the bus. I glanced at his face then laughed quietly. His face showed that he was clearly embarrassed. He lightly punched my shoulder, with a strength that won't simply hurt me. "Yeah. Yeah. Shut up. Just don't remind me of that again. That was embarrassing," he rolled his eyes. We started talking while making fun of each other until we reached our quarter. We went inside and chose a vacant bed and unpacked our things. After unpacking, I sat on my bed and looked around our surroundings. There were at least ten bunk beds meaning that there are twenty people each quarter.

I looked at the bed in front of me which was occupied by Joey. He's lying down on the bed, staring at the picture that I'm guessing is a picture of his girlfriend again. I then remembered the picture my mother has given me. I rummaged my coat, trying to find the picture. Feeling the paper on my fingertips, I removed it inside my coat. I stared at the picture, smiling sadly. Remembering the times that we were still complete. It was tragic when we found out that our father has lung cancer then followed by brain cancer that had struck my sibling. We are just poor so we couldn't do anything. We could not even afford the medicine at that time.

After a few hours or so, our quarter became full. Lots of people took the other vacant beds and occupied them. There are people here and there with their own group. Suddenly, someone went in. He looks like the General so we all formed a line depending on our bed setup. We stood straight, straight as a straight line in fear of being cussed out by the General. He looked around while walking in between our lines. He then turned around and said, "I am General Santos. Today, I will be informing you of the schedule and things you have to do. You will wake up at 0300 to get ready, eat breakfast at 0400, training will start at 0500 until 1100. Lunch will be at 1200. Training will start once again at 1300 until 1800. Dinner will be at 1900 and I expect you to be asleep at 2200. Today, you can rest for a bit. Dinner will start at 1900. The schedule will be the same as every day. Understood?!" We all answered, "Yes, sir!" He shouted, "I don't want to hear a "Yes, sir!", I want to hear a "Sir, yes, sir!" Understood!?" We shouted once again, "Sir, yes, sir!". He grunted and nodded, liking our response. He went out of our quarter and we went back to what we were doing. Joey approached me and we started discussing some things.

Time passes and it's now dinner time. We went to the canteen or whatever the military calls it and ate our prepared dinner. We went back to our quarters and slept so we could be energized for tomorrow.

End of Chapter 1

~Esmeray~